Valmikiramayana-Ayodhya kanda-1- Rama and plan of coronation

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Ayodhya kanda

 

 

1. The virtues of Rama and Dasaratha's intention to crown him.

 

The Ayodhya kanda starts with Bharatha going to the kingdom of his uncle with Sathrugna. We find that the first sloka mentions Satrugna following Bharatha and it is one of very few slokas about this last son of Dasaratha. .But it excels by its quality of being rich in meaning showing the poetic skill of the adhikavi in conveying so much meaning in few words.

 

The sloka goes as follows:

 

Gacchatha mathulakulam bharathEna thaThAnaghah

sathrughnO nithyaSathrughnO neethah preethipuraskrthah

 

Sathrughna was taken along by Bharatha when he went to the house of his uncle. Sathrughna is qualified by adjectives nithyasathrughnah , anaghah and preethipuraskrthah. He is called nuthyasathrugna which means that he has conquered the permanent enemies inside, namely kama, krodha etc. he is anagha , faultless and preethipuraskrthah full of love for Bharatha.

 

The Ramayana is called saranagathisasthra because it extols surrender through out. The first to start the saranagathi was Bharatha who is held to be a paramabhagavatha by the devotees. Sathrughna was the example of bhagavatha kainkarya by being devoted to the service of Bharatha and stands out as the faultless for his selfless love for his brother showing that bhagavatha kainkarya is of no less importance than bhagavtkainkarya, which his twin brother Lakshmana was engaged in. Both became gunairdhAsa enslaved by the virtues of their brothers concerned which is indicated by the word preethipuraskrthah. The service was undertaken out of love .

 

Then starts the enumeration of the virtues of Rama .

Dasaratha was equally fond of all his sons but to Rama his love was more and the reason was given by Valmiki to be because Rama was the incarnation of Vishnu. As Krishna was loved more than anyone else by all because He was the Lord Himself. Similarly Rama was loved by one and all and by Dasaratha more because he considered Rama as his son. Not only Dasaratha but also Kousalya experienced great joy equal to that of Adhithi when she had Indra.

 

Valmiki gives the reason for Rama being loved by all by describing his virtues in 24 slokas.

 

He was veeryavAn, valiant, anasooyakah, without cavil, bhoomouanupamah , had no equal on earth and in personality and qualities equal to Dasaratha., if not more. He was always pleasant, mrdhubhAshee and poorvabhAshee. That is, he not only used to speak sweetly but also spoke first which means that he had no arrogance. Not only that but even when he was insulted he never retorted.

 

He was pleased with any help done even once sometime or other but never remembers even a hundred offences. He always associated with elders, wise and virtuous and showed respect and listened to them. Rama never spoke untruth. He followed the kshatthriya dharma of protecting the good and punishing the wicked. He never indulged in either activities or speech contrary to dharma. He was equal to Brhaspathi in wisdom.

 

He was young strong and healthy and a good judge of others and to his subjects he was like their life-breath outside their bodies. He became well versed in Vedas and sasthras and in the science of archery. He had a balance view on the purusharThas, had a good memory and eloquence and imagination.

 

In addition to possessing all these qualities Rama was modest, placid, infallible.

 

dhrdDabhakthih sThithaprajnah nAsadhgrAhee na dhurvachAh

nisthandhrih apramatthascha svadhOshaparadhoshavith.

 

Rama showed reverence to elders and he had his intellect well established. He never associated with bad men nor spoke bad words. He was industrious and attentive and knew the faults of himself and others.

 

dharmAya yasase arThayaAthmane svajanAya cha

panchaDhA vibhajan vitthamihAmuthra cha Sobhathe

 

Rama knew how to divide his wealth into five parts, for dharma, for fame, for welfare of the world, for himself and for his relatives as the sasthra says that one who does it shines in this world and the next.

 

Thus Rama is acclaimed in all the three worlds as being equal to bhoomi devi in patience, to Brhaspathi in wisdom and to Indra in valour and as having all the auspicious qualities.

 

Valmiki then says that the bhoodevi wanted him to be the king and also Dasaratha., who thought that he was getting old and it would be fit and proper to make Rama the king. After consulting his guru and ministers started doing the preparation for the coronation of Rama and invited all the kings except Janaka and the king of Kekaya. It is given by valmiki that he didi not invite them because he arranged the coronation in a hurry and they were situated far away and thought that the can hear about it later. But the implied reason for not calling them was that he did not want to invite the father of Kaikeyi because he gave a promise at the time of his marriage to Kaikeyi that he will make her son the king. At that time he did not have any issue and hence perhaps he thought that if Kaikeyi gets a son naturally he can be made the king. But now he had other plans and was afraid that the king of Kekaya may remind him of it. To call Janaka without calling him may offend the king of Kekaya and he avoided both.